About Pace Ratings

Pace Ratings

Pace ratings for the 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, and stretch are calculated for each past performance line. Using the track to track adjustments and the track variant, a final time speed rating is calculated assuming that the horse would run the entire race at the same velocity as the horse's average velocity in the fractional part of the race. For example, assuming a horse ran the first 1/4 mile of a 6 furlong race in 22 seconds, then the average velocity for this 1/4 mile is 60 feet per second. If the horse ran the entire race at a rate of 60 ft/sec, the time for 6 furlongs would be a new world record of 1:06. If this race was run at Santa Anita, the speed rating for that effort would be 176. This same method is used to calculate pace ratings for each part of the race. The advantage of scaling the pace rating in this manner is that it makes it easier to visualize how fast a horse is running in the earlier parts of the race.

To illustrate let's compare three route races of Skip Away and Silver Charm.

HORSE

1/4

1/2

STRETCH

FINAL

Skip Away

160

141

123

119

Skip Away

143

144

120

118

Skip Away

138

129

119

118

Silver Charm

90

101

111

116

Silver Charm

120

133

118

115

Silver Charm

127

131

117

114

Comparing only final time speed ratings, one might conclude that these horses are pretty closely matched, but the pace ratings would indicate that they may not be very close at all. It appears that if Silver Charm tries to match pace with Skip Away at a 150+ early pace, he might have trouble breaking 100 for a final speed rating. The faster Silver Charm goes in the early part of the race, the slower his final time. Our objective here is to provide an accurate, understandable pace rating that helps the horse player understand the race.